In The Blink Of An Eye
by GoofyGal2008
Summary: A few seconds was all it took to alter the course of Abby and Brody's relationship as it was getting off the ground. A year later, Abby discovers again that just when you think you've got it all figured out, everything can change in the blink of an eye - or, in her case, the flash of a bullet.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I'm not sure if anyone else is still thinking about this show, or will even visit this section to see this story, but for some reason the idea came into my head while I was driving around town the other day and wouldn't go away. So, I've decided to write it out and put in up here, just in case someone is still reading here.

A little background on the setting for this story - we pick up about a year after episode 5 (the one in which Richie finds out about Abby and Brody). This story will explore how Abby's relationship with Brody might have developed if Richie had turned his head a few seconds later and the relationship had remained a secret. Because we're picking up essentially a year and a half after they started seeing each other, there will be a lot of flashbacks to cover how we got to this point.

The first chapter is a bit shorter than the rest will be, and may raise some questions, but all will be addressed in due time. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

 _"Papa don't preach, I'm in trouble deep…"_

Abby Kowalski paused and smiled to herself at the lyrics she was singing as she tossed her swimsuit into the duffel bag on her bed. In a way, she supposed Madonna was right - she _was_ in trouble, and she was pretty certain her father would _not_ be happy when he found out, but for the first time in her life, she just didn't care.

As she zipped up the bag, she was interrupted by a knock on the door. Shaking her head, she left the bag and hurried over, pulling it open without looking through the peephole.

"Did you forget your key a…" Abby's voice trailed off at the sight of her anxious-looking older brother instead of the man she'd been expecting. "Sorry, I was expecting Brody."

Donnie nodded. "We need to talk, Abby."

"Can it wait?" she asked, stepping back so that he could enter the apartment. "Brody will be here any minute, and we're going away for the weekend, so whatever it is, there's nothing I can do about it anyway."

"Abby…"

"Plus you've got that 'bad news' look on your face, and that scares me," Abby said. "This weekend is really important to me, I've got some big things to deal with, so whatever you've got going on, I can't deal with that too."

"It's not…"

"No, sorry, not doing it," Abby interrupted. "I'm not trying to be rude or blow you off or anything, but I mean it when I say this weekend is really important to me. Brody and I have some big things to handle, and I just can't be focused on anything else right now."

"Abby, you're not going away this weekend," Donnie said.

"Of course I am," Abby said, looking for the first time at his expression, a mix of concern and sympathy. "Oh God, what happened?"

"Abby, you're going to need to come to the hospital with me," Donnie said gently.

"Is it Dad again?" Abby asked nervously. "It was his heart, wasn't it? I knew they let him go too soon last time, I…"

"It isn't Dad," Donnie interrupted quietly, reaching out for his sister. "Abby, there was a shooting this morning at a convenience store. Richie and Brody responded, and…"

"No," Abby said, shaking her head as tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.

"Richie's wounds weren't serious," Donnie assured her. "A through-and-through in his shoulder and a couple of scrapes and bruises. They're keeping him overnight for observation, but that's just a precaution. He won't even need surgery."

"What about John?" Abby asked fearfully, knowing that the fact that her brother was the one breaking the news in person couldn't be a good sign.

"His condition is much more serious," Donnie said. "He was wearing his vest, but the angle of the bullets…he took a couple direct hits that they were pretty worried about. They took him straight into emergency surgery, but it looked bad, Abby. He lost consciousness at the scene, and I don't think he ever regained it before they took him to the OR. I tried to call you when it happened, but I couldn't get through."

Abby nodded numbly and pulled her phone from her pocket. "I, uh, I had it turned off," she said, pressing the power button. "I was out of the city, I don't get reception out there. I guess I…I forgot to turn it back on. John's…he's alive, right?"

"Yeah, he's still alive," Donnie said. "He's out of surgery, but they said it's going to be touch-and-go for a while here. They said…well, the doc went in to update Richie since Brody didn't have any family there, and he warned him that we should be preparing for the fact that he might not make it."

Donnie felt like his own heart was breaking as he watched Abby struggle to keep her composure and he instinctively reached out to pull her close, closing his eyes as her head came to rest on his shoulder and he felt the sobs start to shake her body.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** I'm excited to see at least a few of you are still here hanging out! I can't promise that all updates will be this speedy, but I had the first few chapters ready to go, so I'll get them up relatively quickly.

* * *

"I can only let you stay for a few minutes."

Abby nodded at the nurse's words as she walked slowly into Brody's small room in the ICU. She quietly pulled a chair up to the side of the bed and sat down, feeling Donnie's eyes on her the entire time. Reaching out, she grabbed Brody's hand and pressed her fingers into his wrist, closing her eyes as she focused on the pulse beneath her fingers.

Feeling as though he were somehow intruding, Donnie eventually turned his back and stepped away from the room. "Thank you," he said to the nurse, who was still standing outside the room, looking entirely unsure of the situation.

"Five minutes is all I can give her," she said. "He's really not supposed to have any visitors at all beyond immediate family."

"I appreciate you bending the rules for her," Donnie said.

The nurse shrugged. "No one knows for sure what our patients are aware of and what they're not," she said. "But I've noticed that the ones without family, the ones who don't get to have visitors, they don't do as well as the ones who do. On some level, I think maybe it gets through even if they're not fully aware."

"There's no family at all?" Donnie asked.

"From what I understand, they haven't been able to locate any," the nurse said. "We have a social worker on staff who handles things like this, and she's working on it."

"Abby might know," Donnie said. "I'll ask her when she's done."

The nurse nodded. "I've got another patient to check on," she said. "I'll be back in five minutes."

* * *

Abby shook her head as she looked around the room at the wires and machines all hooked up to the body lying in the bed. In a way, she couldn't even bring her mind to connect him with the man whose arms she'd slept in just the night before.

"You have to be okay," she said quietly, still holding tightly to his hand. "You have to get through this, John, because I can't do this alone. I won't do this alone."

Shaking her head, she almost smiled at the look of confusion she knew would be on his face if he were awake. "You don't even know what I'm talking about, do you?" she asked. "You're supposed to know by now. We're supposed to be at the lake right now, and you're supposed to have figured out that surprise I told you about. This isn't how tonight was supposed to go."

Abby sighed and squeezed his hand. "Do you remember the first time you took me to the lake?" she asked. "I'll never forget that. It was right after that case where I had to bring my dad in for questioning, remember? My brothers wouldn't even look at me for weeks after that. And yet, somehow you managed to take one really crappy week and make it all disappear. You always seem to be able to do that…"

 _"_ _I can't believe that I let you talk me into this," Abby complained as she leaned forward and squinted to make out any signs of civilization through the windshield of the car._

 _"_ _Trust me, you'll appreciate it once we get there," Brody said, maneuvering the car around yet another curve on the dusty road. "After the week you've had, you needed to get away."_

 _"_ _You're dragging me out to the middle of nowhere to murder me and dump my body, aren't you?" Abby asked skeptically_.

 _Brody laughed and looked over at her. "You've got the middle of nowhere part right," he said. "But if I were going to kill someone, I don't think I'd pick a woman who carries a gun."_

 _"_ _You'd have a point, except that my gun is locked up in my gun safe in my apartment," Abby said. "All I have to defend myself in my bag is what you told me to pack - a couple t-shirts, a pair of jeans, and a swimsuit."_

 _"_ _Don't forget the toothbrush," Brody pointed out._

 _"_ _Oh, sure, there's that," Abby said. "I guess I could whittle that down to a shiv and stab you if you try to kill me. Of course, I'll probably be dead long before I could get it sharp enough to do any damage, so that's really useful."_

 _"_ _In that case, I suppose you'll just have to take my word for it that I'm not a serial killer," Brody said._

 _"_ _I never said you were a serial killer," Abby said. "Maybe I'm your first victim and you'll go serial after me."_

 _Brody shook his head. "That's a highly unlikely scenario."_

 _"_ _Why?" Abby asked, shooting him a playful grin._

 _"_ _Because, if I were starting with you, I'd have pretty standards to meet with next one, wouldn't I?" Brody asked._

 _"_ _Seriously?" Abby groaned and smacked his thigh. "That's your attempt at flattery? Really?"_

 _"_ _Hey, you're the one who started the serial killer conversation!" Brody protested. "All I'm doing is trying to prevent an awkward silence."_

 _Abby glanced over at him out of the corner of her eye, intending to give him another sharp retort, but something about the sincerity of the look on his face struck her, and she suddenly found herself laughing so hard she doubled over and grabbed the dashboard to steady herself._

 _"_ _I'm sorry," she gasped. "It's just…you're adorable when you're trying to be serious."_

 _"_ _I can't tell if that's a compliment or not, but I'll take it," Brody said, smiling as he made one last turn and began to slow the car. "There. We're here."_

 _Taking a moment to compose herself, Abby slowly sat up. As she did, her jaw dropped at the sight of the sprawling two-story house at the end of the gravel driveway they were now on._

 _"_ _Oh my God," she gasped. "Brody, this place is…I don't even know. It's gorgeous. What are we doing here?"_

 _Brody shrugged. "I told you," he said. "We're getting away."_

 _"_ _You rented this place?" Abby asked, climbing out of the car and looking around, catching a glimpse of what appeared to be a lake on the other side of the house. "How can you even afford this?"_

 _"_ _It's a pretty old house," Brody said with a quick shrug. "The exterior's been completely renovated, but the interior's still a major work in progress."_

 _"_ _But still…"_

 _"_ _Stop questioning things and come inside," Brody said, shaking his head as he held open the front door. "Sometimes, you just need to stop analyzing and start feeling. Do you trust me?"_

Abby smiled as she reached up and ran her hand over his cheek, carefully avoided the tubes running from his nose and mouth. "You were right," she said. "You know why I love that weekend so much? Because that was the first time I knew that despite all my efforts to avoid it, there was going to be an 'us.' So don't you dare even think about dying on me at this point, John Brody, because we're supposed to be getting the good part."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Again, thank you so much to those who are reading this story, and especially to those who are reviewing! SpencerFan, I wish you were signed in so I could respond to your review directly, but thank you for the reviews!

* * *

Donnie hesitated for a moment outside his brother's hospital room, trying to mentally sort through the details of the story he had quickly fabricated for the benefit of his family. Knowing he wasn't entirely likely to pull it off, he pushed open the door and stepped inside.

"Donnie, there you are," Sheila said, looking up from her seat on one side of Richie's bed. "I was starting to worry about you. Did you find Abby?"

Donnie nodded. "You know how she is, the battery on her phone died and she hadn't charged it," he lied. "She was at home, just going about her business."

"Where is she now?" Don asked, looking over his son's shoulder but not seeing his daughter.

"She, uh, wanted to go down to the station to follow up on the investigation," he said. "You know Abby, she doesn't believe anything's being done right unless she sees it herself."

Richie frowned. "She didn't want to come see me first?" he asked.

"I told her you were fine," Donnie said. "I told her you were awake, talking, being a general pain in the ass about getting released. She thought she'd be of more use down at the station."

"They're not going to let her be involved, though, are they?" Laura asked. "I mean, when Richie had that shooting last year, they wouldn't even tell her anything. Why would this be any different?"

"Last year, they were trying to rule whether or not Richie had a clean shoot," Steve piped up from the back of the room. "This is entirely different. They're trying to track down the guy who shot Richie and Brody. They won't let her be involved, but they might tell her something."

"It doesn't seem right," Sheila said. "She should be here, not down at the station. She should be with her brother right now."

"Yeah, but you know how stubborn Abby can be," Steve said. "I'm sure she'll be here as soon as she's reassured herself that no one's sleeping on the job."

"Speaking of sleeping, I've got go call Amy before the kids go to bed," Donnie said. "See if maybe she'll let me take them next weekend instead of tomorrow."

"Don't give up your weekend with the kids because of me," Richie protested. "I'm fine, you do what you need to do with your family."

Donnie rolled his eyes. "Which includes you, even if you are a pain in the ass," he said. "I'll just see what she says when I ask."

And with that, Donnie stepped out of the room and headed down the hall to make his phone call. By the time he hung up with his ex-wife a few minutes later, Steve was sitting beside him.

"You think they bought any of that?" Donnie asked as he put his phone away.

Steve shook his head. "Mom sure as hell didn't," he said. "You couldn't come up with anything more convincing?"

"It was the best I could do on the spur of the moment," Donnie protested.

"How's she taking it?" Steve asked.

"Not good," Donnie said grimly. "They let her in to see him because he doesn't have any family here, but they weren't going to let her stay for long. She's probably camped out outside the ICU right now. I figured I'd just put out the fire up here and then go back to her."

"I hate that this is still a secret," Steve said. "We all should all be there with her right now, she shouldn't be alone."

"You know Mom would ask too many questions if both of us disappeared," Donnie said. "I figure the way things are going, she's going to have to tell everyone soon."

"In the meantime, why don't you stay up here, and I'll go sit with her for a while," Steve suggested. "Just tell Mom I went to get something to eat."

"Better idea, why don't you stay here and I go sit with Abby?" Donnie countered.

"Not happening," Steve said. "I've been stuck here all afternoon with Mom and Laura, who are both in overprotective, hovering mode. It's your turn to deal with them. Besides, you know the longer I sit in there with that lie about where Abby is, the more likely I am to blab. I can't keep a secret."

"I don't know, you say that all the time, but I'm calling bull on that," Donnie said. "You've known for over two months that Abby was seeing Brody, and you haven't told anyone. Apparently, you _can_ keep a secret."

"Do you have any idea how hard that's been for me?" Steve asked. "The only reason I've been able to do is that I was pretty sure Richie would beat me up if I mentioned anything about Brody sleeping with Abby. And the fact remains, it's your turn to deal with the crazy women."

"Fine," Donnie grumbled. "But when you're down there with Abby, make sure she knows that she's got to get up here before too long or Mom's going to go on a hunt for her."

* * *

Abby figured it was appropriate that it was raining as she sat alone outside the ICU, watching through the window as a nurse changed out one of Brody's IV bags. As the door to the unit slid open and closed again, a brief shot of the cold air hit her and shivered involuntarily. Wrapping her arms around herself as she sat there, she let her mind drift again to that first weekend away…

 _Abby shivered and pressed herself more closely against Brody's side as they lay on the simple mattress set out on the screened-in porch, a large comforter covering them both._

 _"_ _Remind me again why we're out here at three in the morning in the middle of April when it's 40 degrees out?" she asked._

 _"_ _Because I like it when you have to be really, really close to me for warmth?" Brody teased, earning a playful smack across his chest. "Just give it a few minutes, okay?"_

 _Abby frowned. "Okay," she agreed. "But I really am starting to question my sanity, agreeing to come all the way out to the middle of nowhere with you, to an unfinished house that we're probably not even supposed to be in, and…"_

 _"_ _Abby," Brody interrupted, nudging gently. "Look up."_

 _Following his instructions, Abby turned her head upward and gasped at the streaks of light moving across the night sky. "Wow," she whispered in awe._

 _"_ _Yeah," Brody agreed, not taking his eyes off of the look of wonder on her face. "You don't see that in the city."_

 _"_ _I guess not," she agreed, leaning back into him to watch the meteor shower as it continued. "How did you know it would happen tonight?"_

 _"_ _They happen every night for a week or two, once a year," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "You have to come out here to see them, though. There's way too much light pollution in the city, it makes it basically not even worth staying awake to watch them if you're there. It's why I like this place, because you can see stuff like this."_

 _"_ _So you've stayed here before?"_

 _Brody smiled and nodded. "You could say that," he said._

 _"_ _Okay, out with it," Abby insisted, turning her gaze away from the sky to look at his face. "You've been skirting around the issue since we got here. If you didn't rent the place, and we're not trespassing, how are we here? Do you have a rich uncle I don't know about who owns the place?"_

 _"_ _Actually, I have several rich uncles," Brody said. "But they don't own this place. I do."_

 _Abby frowned. "There's no way you could afford this place on what a beat cop makes," she said._

 _Brody laughed and kissed her forehead. "Turn your IA filter off, Abby, I'm not skimming from the evidence locker," he said. "It was a graduation present from my grandparents. They offered me a couple of properties they owned at the time, and I picked this one. I think my grandmother thought I was crazy because the house was basically falling apart, but I liked the idea of a project. I wanted something that could I really make my own mark on."_

 _"_ _This is a pretty amazing gift," Abby said, curling into him and resting her head on his chest, laying there quietly for a few minutes before speaking again. "Hey Brody? Thank you."_

 _"_ _For what?"_

 _Abby shrugged. "For this," she said, gesturing to the now-dark sky. "For not asking me questions or trying to make me talk about what happened this week or assuming that I'm somehow the bad guy because I had to ask my dad a few questions in an interrogation room. For literally taking me away from everything. I feel like…I don't know, I feel like I can breathe out here."_

 _"_ _Well, breathing's good," Brody said. "Pretty important, actually, from what I hear."_

 _Abby laughed and smacked his chest gently. "Don't be a smart ass, Brody, I'm trying to give you a compliment here."_

 _"_ _And I appreciate that," he said, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling the blanket up over her shoulders. "But you don't have to thank me, Abby. This place is…I don't know, it's special to me. And you're welcome out here to breathe any time."_

 _"_ _Okay, but you've got to do something with that hole you're calling a kitchen if you want me to be a regular visitor," she said with a smirk._

 _"_ _Is that so?" Brody asked, choosing not to push her on the 'regular visitor' comment. "In that case, how are you at laying tile?"_

Abby shook her head and smiled sadly. If someone had told her two years ago that her perfect escape from the craziness of her life would be manual labor at a lake house in the middle of nowhere with her brother's partner, she'd probably have had that person committed. Somehow, though, it had become more than just an escape - it had become the thing she'd looked forward to most each month, it had become the promise of their future, and the prospect of losing it was scarier than anything she'd ever felt.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** This chapter took a little longer to flesh out than I'd anticipated, but I hope it was worth the wait! We got very little background on Brody on the show, but I always got the sense that he was drawn to the Kowalski family for a reason, which is where the background I've created here for him comes from.

* * *

Steve found himself at a rare loss for words as he approached the ICU waiting room and took a seat next to his sister. Silently, he put his hand over hers and squeezed it gently.

"You don't have to be here," Abby said after a few moments. "I know you think this is weird and that I'm being stupid and…"

"I don't think that," Steve protested.

Abby turned and looked at him. "Steve, the last time we talked about this you said, and I quote, 'Abby, this whole thing with Brody is weird, and I think you're both acting stupid and being completely insensitive to Richie,'" she recalled.

"Did I say that?" Steve asked defensively. "Okay, fine, I did say that. But just because I don't understand this relationship-thing you have with Brody, and I'm not as accepting as Donnie apparently was right away, that doesn't mean I'm not still going to support you."

"Even when Richie and Mom and Dad are yelling at me after they find out?" Abby asked.

Steve hesitated. "I think Donnie and I would both appreciate it if you could maybe do that part when we aren't around," he said. "Or at least leave out the part where we knew and didn't tell anyone."

"Hey, it's not as though I went out of my way to make sure you knew," Abby said. "In fact, I'd really prefer you didn't know, but since some people don't know how to knock..."

Steve shook his head and attempted to change the subject to avoid having to deal with that image in his head again. "Is his family going to be just as shocked?" he asked. "Or did you guys tell them?"

"He doesn't have a family," Abby said.

"Everyone's got someone," Steve argued. "Even if it's not parents, there's siblings, grandparents, cousins…"

"He's an only child," Abby said. "His father's dead, and he's only spoken to his mother a handful of times in the last eight years. I called and left her a message, but it's anybody's guess if she'll even show up."

"But she's his mother," Steve said. "Of course she'll show up."

Abby shook her head. "Not everyone's as lucky as we are when it comes to family, Steve…"

 _"_ _Alright, I've had just about enough of this for one day," Abby called out, setting down her paintbrush and stepping back from the wall in the dining room. "Exactly how much more paint does this house need, anyway?"_

 _Brody laughed as he heard the frustration in her voice and set down his tools in the kitchen. "You're the one who called me and said you were bored," he pointed out as she walked into the kitchen, wiping her hands on her faded, now-paint-splattered jeans. "Did you get any of that paint on my walls, or is it all just on your pants there?"_

 _"_ _Oh, you think you're funny, do you?" Abby asked. "Just wait, tomorrow I may decide to paint you instead of the walls."_

 _"_ _As long as you make sure you keep it off my new countertops," Brody said, pulling two beers out of the newly installed refrigerator and handing one to her. "Come on, I'll fire up the grill for dinner."_

 _"_ _Where'd you learn to do all this handyman stuff, anyway?" Abby asked as she followed him out onto the deck and flopped down on the couch._

 _"_ _I worked construction for a couple of years while I was trying to decide whether to go to the fire academy or the police academy," he said, handing her a beer before turning to set up the grill._

 _"_ _You thought about becoming a firefighter?" Abby asked, biting back a laugh._

 _"_ _Why is that funny?"_

 _Abby shook her head and smiled. "I mean, I respect firefighters, of course I do," she said. "It's just, come on, we're clearly so much better than them. Think about it…we chase down bad guys, they pull cats out of trees. We have guns, they have hoses. It's not even a close comparison."_

 _Brody frowned as he stepped away from the grill to let it heat up and turned to face Abby._

 _"_ _What?" she asked, immediately seeing the conflict on his face._

 _"_ _My dad was a firefighter," Brody admitted._

 _"_ _Oh, gotcha," Abby said. "So firefighter jokes are out, I guess. Did he totally disown you when you decided to become a cop instead? I'll bet it as bad as when I joined IA, wasn't it?"_

 _Brody shook his head and sat down next to her, setting his beer on the table and leaning forward with his forearms on his knees, staring out across the lake to avoid meeting her gaze. "My dad never seemed to have a problem with cops," he said. "I think he would have been okay with it."_

 _"_ _Would have?" Abby questioned._

 _"_ _He died when I was six," he said quietly._

 _"_ _Oh, Brody," Abby sighed, scooting over so that she was sitting next to him, her position mimicking his as she tried to figure out how to respond to his admission. "What happened?"_

 _"_ _It was a, um, an apartment fire," he said. "Over on the Southside. By the time they got there, it was burning pretty bad, but there were reports of people still trapped inside, so they went in. Seven minutes later, the whole building came down around them. Twenty-two people died that morning - twelve civilians, and all ten members of Engine Company 12, including my dad. It's, uh, it's still the worst single-incident loss of life in the history of the Chicago Fire Department."_

 _Abby felt tears in her own eyes as she watched him silently relive some moment of that day in his head as he recounted the story. "I don't know what to say," she admitted. "I'm so sorry doesn't even seem like enough."_

 _Brody shook his head. "It's not something I talk about, ever really," he said. "The department has a memorial service every year, they always invite me, but I've never gone. I try not to even think about it. It just hurts less that way."_

 _Abby nodded, and instinctively leaned over and kissed him softly. "Thank you," she said as she pulled back._

 _"_ _For what?"_

 _"_ _For sharing it with me," she said. "For what it's worth, I think your dad would have been really proud of you."_

 _"_ _I hope so," Brody said. "Now, my mother and her family…not so much."_

 _"_ _Really?"_

 _"_ _Oh, you have no idea," Brody said. "You want to talk parental disappointment, you should call my mother or my grandfather."_

 _"_ _But I thought you said your grandparents gave you this place when you graduated the academy?" Abby asked. "Why would they do that if they weren't proud of you?"_

 _Brody sighed and shook his head, reaching for his beer. "I told you it was a graduation present," he said. "But not for that graduation."_

 _"_ _What else did you graduate from?"_

 _"_ _College."_

 _"_ _Because I think it's…wait, did you say college?" Abby asked in confusion._

 _"_ _Yup," Brody said, taking a long sip of his beer before setting it back on the table._

 _Abby shook her head. "You went to college?" she repeated, turning so that she was facing him. "As in, you have a bachelor's degree? From a real four year university?"_

 _"_ _I think I should be a little insulted by how shocked you sound," Brody said. "Yes, Abby, I went to college. Yes, I have a bachelor of arts degree, and last I checked, yes, Northwestern was still a real, four year university."_

 _"_ _You went to Northwestern?" Abby repeated. "Holy crap, Brody. What did you study?"_

 _"_ _International business."_

 _"_ _Internat…seriously?"_

 _Brody nodded. "Unfortunately," he said. "I mean, I don't regret going. There were a lot of things I liked about college. But a lot of it felt like it wasn't my life, because it wasn't."_

 _"_ _What do you mean?"_

 _"_ _Everything I did was determined for me," he said. "When I finished high school, my grandfather basically told me I'd be going to Northwestern. He told which fraternity to pledge, so I did. I didn't pick my major, he not-so-subtly suggested that I study international business. I knew when I was in high school that I wanted to either be a firefighter like my dad, or I wanted to be a cop, but it took me a long time to work up the courage to tell my grandparents and my mother that their plan for my life sounded boring as hell."_

 _"_ _Why did would they want you to study business?"_

 _Brody sighed and hesitated. "Because my mother was essentially the polar opposite of my father," he said. "My dad was an honest, hard-working, blue-collar guy. He never had much money to throw around, but he was loyal and trusting and I may have just been a kid when he died, but I never for one second questioned the fact that he loved me and would have done anything for me."_

 _"_ _And your mother?"_

 _"_ _My mother grew up wealthy," Brody said. "And I don't just mean that they were comfortable or that they took a few nice vacations. I mean her family has more money than you or I could earn in ten lifetimes. How the hell she even met my father, I don't know, but they were married less than a year before she left him; I was two months old at the time. Dad got full custody of me, and I didn't see her again until after he died."_

 _"_ _Are you kidding me?" Abby asked incredulously. "Not at all?"_

 _"_ _I didn't even know who she was when she showed up to pick me up a few days after the funeral," he said. "I was staying with a friend of dad's, and he had to explain it to me. I spent most of my childhood either in boarding schools or staying with my grandparents, who were never shy about the fact that they didn't think I'd amount to much because of who my father was. I think I only went to Northwestern to prove them wrong. For a little bit, it seemed like they were almost proud of me. After I graduated, my grandfather gave me a job at one of his companies, and…"_

 _"_ _At_ one _of his companies?" Abby asked. "You mean he has more than one?"_

 _Brody nodded. "You can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you," he said._

 _"_ _Okay."_

 _"_ _Seriously, Abby, not a soul."_

 _"_ _Who would I tell?" Abby asked. "Everyone we know thinks that we barely know each other."_

 _"_ _True," Brody agreed, looking at her for a moment as he tried to picture her reaction. "Alright, do you know who Jeremiah Ellington is?"_

 _"_ _Obviously," Abby said. "The man owns half of downtown Chicago, Brody, and he's not afraid to plaster his name all over everything - Ellington Towers, Ellington Square, Ellington Plaza, the Ellington Foundation. Why?"_

 _Brody shook his head. "I don't think we've been properly introduced," he said as he extended his hand toward her. "Jonathan Ellington Brody."_

 _Abby's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "You're not…"_

 _"_ _His grandson?" Brody filled in. "I'm afraid so, but don't go getting any ideas about what you think I could be worth, because you'd be wrong. I got disowned the day I walked out of that stupid corporate job eight years ago, and I haven't spoken to my grandfather or my mother since. They wouldn't even acknowledge my presence when I went to my grandmother's funeral a few years ago."_

 _"_ _That's the most horrible thing I've ever heard," Abby said. "You're her son, how could she not acknowledge you?"_

 _Brody shrugged. "Like I said, she wasn't really around much when I was growing up," he said. "It was mostly boarding schools or nannies while she and my grandparents were working. It's not like she was ever terribly attached to me. I think I reminded her too much of a period in her life she wishes didn't happen, so it's just easier without me not around."_

 _"_ _Well, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Abby declared. "And her loss, too."_

 _"_ _And you call me sappy?" Brody teased._

 _"_ _Shut up," Abby said, leaning forward to kiss him again._

"Abby?" Steve prompted gently. "Where'd you go there?"

Abby shook her head. "Sorry," she said. "Just remembering, that's all. You should probably go back up to Richie's before Mom starts asking questions. I'm just…I just need a few minutes to get myself together, then I'll come up to see him, okay?"


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Thank you all for the positive response to the first four chapters of this story! I didn't want to drag the secret-keeping out too long, so it's time for the big reveal to the rest of the family!

* * *

When he stepped into Richie's room a few minutes later, Steve immediately knew that something was wrong. His brother was sitting up on the edge of the bed, clearly agitated, as Sheila and Laura both tried to push him back into the bed without actually touching his injured shoulder.

"Get off of me," he insisted angrily, again trying to stand up.

"What the hell is going on?" Steve asked, stepping into the room.

Donnie shrugged from his spot standing behind Sheila. "Richie's being an idiot again, nothing new here," he said. "He thinks the fact that no one will give him an update on Brody means that he died on the operating table or some other sort of bs. He's trying to go to the surgical floor to find out for himself."

"It's the morphine talking," Laura said, a hint of desperation in her voice. "He's not being rational."

"Dude, Brody's not dead," Steve said. "Now would you lie back down and stop acting like a five year old throwing a temper tantrum?"

"I am _not_ being irrational," Richie insisted. "They're calling it post-traumatic shock, but I can't remember the shooting, Steve. I can't remember if he was talking or bleeding or even breathing when the ambulance came. I can't remember and nobody will tell me! The surgeon said we should be ready for him not to make it. What the hell am I supposed to think?"

"He's not dead," Steve said.

"Then why won't anyone let me go see him?"

"Because he's in the ICU, you idiot," Steve replied. "It's immediate family only, and brothers-in-arms doesn't count."

"You're sure?" Richie asked. "How do you know he's in the ICU?"

"Because I was just there, that's how," Steve said. "Looked through the window and saw him with my own two eyes."

"I want to talk to him," Richie said. "Call him, get him on the phone."

"He's got a tube down his throat to help him breathe, Richie," Steve said. "He's not conscious."

"Steve!" Sheila scolded.

"Oh come on, Mom, the last update he had was that he might not make it. I think Richie already knows he's in bad shape," Steve pointed out.

"Have they said anything new?" Richie asked, relaxing slightly at his brother's assurances.

"Not exactly, no," Steve said. "The nurse told Abby that they're waiting for the results of a few more tests before they figure out the next steps."

"Abby?" Richie asked in confusion. "Why the hell is a nurse talking to Abby about Brody? And why would Abby be in the ICU instead of here?"

"Uh…" Steve felt as though his face had turned a bright crimson as he struggled to come up with an answer, thanking his lucky stars as the door opened at exactly that moment and their father walked in with a man in scrubs and a white coat.

"Richie, you remember Dr. Harrison from earlier?" Don said, looking around and getting the sense that he'd walked into the middle of something.

"Brody's surgeon," Richie said.

"I understand from your father that you have some concerns about your partner's condition," the doctor said. "I have to respect privacy laws, but seeing as he has no family present, there's nothing that says an update would be inappropriate."

"He's going to make it, isn't it?" Richie asked.

"It's still very early," Dr. Harrison said. "The fact that he made it through the first surgery is encouraging, but his condition remains critical and I would not classify him as stable at this point."

"He's too stubborn to die on me," Richie said. "He's…he's got to be okay."

"I take it the two of you are close?" Dr. Harrison asked.

"He's my partner," Richie said, as though it were the most obvious statement in the world. "I have to trust him with him my life every day, and he has to do the same with me. It's the kind of trust that makes you close to a person, especially after four years working together."

Dr. Harrison nodded. "Can you tell us if there's any family we can contact?" he asked. "A parent or a sibling, perhaps?"

Richie hesitated. "It's not that we don't talk about personal stuff," he said. "We do. It's just…I don't know how, but somehow that never came up. I guess I just assumed if he didn't ever bring them up, he must not be close to his family, if he even has one."

"We're going to need to reach someone," Dr. Harrison said. "Our hospital social worker is attempting to find his personnel records to determine if he listed a medical power of attorney, but time is of the essence, so anyone you can think of who might know…"

"What do you need them for?" Sheila asked.

"There are decisions that will need to be made regarding treatments," he said. "Some of them sooner rather than later."

"Can I make them?" Richie asked. "If there's no family…"

Dr. Harrison shook his head. "I wish it were that simple, Officer Kowalski," he said. "Unfortunately, there are specific protocols to follow in these circumstances. If we're unable to contact family and we can't locate a previously authorized health care proxy, there is a process by which the courts will appoint one on his behalf. Unfortunately, these things take time, and that's something Officer Brody may not have on his side."

"What sort of decisions?" Don asked.

"During the initial surgery, we removed the bullet and repaired as much visible damage to his internal organs as we possible could given his unstable condition," Dr. Harrison said. "Our tests are now showing that there was almost certainly significant damage around his spinal cord, which we suspected was going to be the case based on the bullet's trajectory."

"What kind of tests?" Richie asked. "How do you test for that?"

"We briefly reduced his sedation, and attempted to elicit a response to painful stimuli," Dr. Harrison explained. "There was a decreased response in the upper extremities, but we're most concerned by the minimal response in his lower extremities."

"I don't understand," Richie said. "Are you saying he's paralyzed? Permanently?"

"It is a possibility," the doctor said. "His scans do indicate that there is swelling around the spinal cord, which could be causing the reduced responses, but it is also possible that the cord itself is damaged. If that's the case, I'm afraid there's nothing we can do."

"And if it's the swelling?" Sheila asked. "Can you fix that?"

Dr. Harrison hesitated. "It's possible," he said. "There is a surgery which could be performed to reduce the compression on the spinal column, but it's very risky given his unstable condition."

"What if you wait until he's more stable?" Steve asked. "Let him regain some strength and then do the surgery?"

"I wish the choice was that simple," Dr. Harrison said. "The longer we wait, the more likely it is that the swelling will create permanent damage to the spinal cord, if it hasn't already done so."

"So basically what you're saying is either you do surgery now and he's got a chance of moving on his own again, but he's also got a good chance of dying on the table, or you wait and he has a better chance of living but he's in a wheelchair for the rest of his life?" Richie asked.

"It's a bit more complicated than that, but essentially, yes," Dr. Harrison said. "Our neurosurgeon is putting together a plan right now for the possible decompression surgery, but it's risky enough that we need consent from his next of kin since it isn't considered a life-saving surgery."

"I guess you could contact our sergeant," Richie said. "He might know if Brody had a medical whatchamacallit in his personnel file."

"I'm sure our social worker is reaching out to him," Dr. Harrison said. "Right now, you need to rest, and let us worry about Officer Brody's care, alright?"

Richie shook his head. "I can't just leave him down there alone," he said.

"Well, we'll…"

"Do the surgery."

Dr. Harrison, along with the rest of the room, turned quickly at the sound of the voice from the doorway.

"Do the surgery," Abby repeated, focusing her eyes on the doctor and avoiding the shocked and surprised stares from the rest of her family.

"Are you family?" Dr. Harrison asked.

"No, she's my sister," Richie said. "Abby, what do you think you're doing?"

"He'd want to take the risk," Abby said, ignoring her brother. "Brody would want the surgery, so you should do it."

"Ms. Kowalski, I appreciate your thoughts and your concern here, but…"

Abby shook her head and looked down at the papers in her hand before holding them out to the doctor. "Do the surgery," she repeated as he took them and read through the pages.

"Abby, you don't even know John that well," Sheila said in confusion. "How do you think you could know what he would want? We need to wait for his family or his healthcare proxy, you can't make those decisions. He…"

"Actually, it seems that she can," Dr. Harrison interrupted, glancing between Abby and Richie.

"What?" Richie asked. "What do you mean, she can? That's insane!"

"This is your partner's medical power of attorney," Dr. Harrison said, holding up the papers Abby had handed him. "Signed and notarized a month ago, authorizing your sister to make his decisions in the event that he becomes unable to make them himself."

"What the hell?!" Richie exclaimed, this time pushing past his mother, who was too stunned to make much of a move to stop him, and rising to his feet. "Abby, what are you playing at here?"

"I'm not playing at anything," she said quietly. "Dr. Harrison, do the surgery. Now."

Dr. Harrison nodded, relieved at the opportunity to get out of the room. "Ms. Kowalski, you'll need to come with me, there's paperwork I'm going to need you to sign before we can take him to the OR."

Abby risked one last glance at her shocked parents and brother before turning and following the surgeon out of the room, leaving her stunned family in her wake.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** I am so sorry for the delay in posting this chapter! I've been playing around with it for weeks, but the second half hasn't exactly cooperated. It's still not exactly flowing how I'd like, but I figured I should just call it done and move on, or we'll never get the rest of the story! I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

A stunned silence hung over the room as the door closed behind Abby and the doctor, leaving the remaining members of the Kowalski family to stare at one another as they tried to grasp what had just happened.

"I don't understand," Laura said, her hand on Richie's forearm as he slowly sank back into his bed. "When did Brody and Abby become friends?"

"They're not," Richie said. "They hardly even speak when they're in the same room. She even asked me not to bring him around…she said she didn't like him, that she thought he was disgusting."

"Then why on earth would he have made her his power of attorney?" Sheila asked. "Could it have been some sort of mistake? Maybe meant to make it you, Richie?"

"She had the paperwork with her, Sheila," Don pointed out. "And she didn't sound at all surprised at what it said."

As their family members continued to debate the situation, Donnie nudged Steve's arm and tilted his head in the direction of the door. Nodding in silent understanding, both brothers turned quietly and began slowly making their way out of the room.

"Hold it right there, both of you!"

Freezing in their tracks at the sound of their mother's voice, they both slowly turned back around and looked down at their feet, deliberately avoiding her gaze.

"Look at me," Sheila instructed sternly, forcing both men to reluctantly raise their eyes to meet hers. "That's what I thought. The two of you have been acting strangely ever since we got to the hospital today, and now you've both got that same deer-in-the-headlights look you used to give me when you were teenagers and one of you had snuck out of the house. I didn't buy it then, and I'm certainly not about to buy it now. You two know something."

"No, nothing," Donnie insisted, shaking his head a little too vigorously. "We don't know a thing."

Steve hesitated as Sheila focused her gaze on him. "I…uh…we don't…"

"Stephen Michael Kowalski, don't you dare lie to me," Sheila cautioned. "Don't you dare."

"She's sleeping with him," Steve admitted, earning a sharp glare from Donnie. "What? Don't look at me like that, you know what happens when she starts with the middle names!"

"You always were the one to cave," Donnie muttered.

"Wait, who's sleeping with who?" Richie asked, furrowing his brow skeptically. "Not…"

"Abby and Brody," Donnie confirmed with a reluctant nod.

"Is it serious?" Laura asked, tightening her grip on Richie's forearm as she felt him start to sit up again.

"Obviously not that serious, if she couldn't even be bothered to tell her family," Richie said with a glance at his guilty-looking brothers. "Well, at least not all of the family. I guess we know who she really trusts here."

"It's not like she chose to tell us and not you," Donnie said. "Steve and I just sort of found out, that's all."

"Together?" Richie asked skeptically.

Steve shook his head. "Donnie's known for about six months," he said. "I only found out two months ago."

"You've known for two months and you haven't said anything?" Sheila asked in surprise.

"I know, impressive, right?" Steve asked with a hint of pride.

"Impressive is not the word I'd choose," Sheila said disapprovingly. "He's your brother's partner, boys. How could you keep that from him?"

"Yeah, he's Richie's partner, but it's Abby's relationship, not ours," Steve pointed out. "It wasn't our secret to tell, Mom, it was hers. It's still hers, really."

"I just can't believe the two of you would keep this from me," Richie said. "He's my partner!"

"So everyone keeps reminding us," Donnie snapped. "Do you think that fact somehow slipped our minds?"

"Don't you get smart with your brother, Donald, I…"

"No, you know what, this is bullshit, Mom," Donnie interrupted angrily. "This is probably _exactly_ why Abby didn't want anyone to know, because she knew that none of you would give them a chance before you jumped straight to condemning them. And yeah, I kind of did the same thing when I found out, but you know what? They're adults, Mom. Abby and Brody are two consenting adults, they're not teenagers who should have to sneak around like they're doing something wrong. They're not seeing anyone else, they're not cheating on anyone, there's no inappropriate behavior going on. Do any of you honestly think that Steve and I would have kept our mouths shut about this if Abby was doing something dangerous? If there was any chance of her getting in trouble or getting hurt?"

"He will hurt her," Richie said. "He's not…"

"Don't, Richie," Donnie cautioned. "You don't know what you're talking about. You haven't seen them together. Have any of you even bothered to ask if she's happy? I haven't heard one word from any of you wanting to know how she feels about him, how he feels about her. Do you even care about her feelings, Richie, or is it all about how this affects you?"

"You don't know him like I do!" Richie protested. "You don't know his reputation, the things he says in the locker room…you don't know him, Donnie. He's my partner and I'd trust him with my life, but he's no good for Abby."

Donnie shook his head. "Well, you'll have to take that up with her," he said. "But when you do, just be prepared…this isn't some random fling she's having, and from what I've seen, she's not likely to walk away just because you're unhappy."

"I'm not…" Richie paused as he suddenly looked around the room. "Hey, where'd Dad go?"

* * *

Abby stood silently at the back of Brody's hospital room, her hands clenched tightly together in front of her body as she watched his nurses unhook the last of the machines and roll his bed out of the room.

"It'll be at least a few hours before there's any sort of update, and the surgery will probably go all night," the last nurse said as she stayed behind and put her hand on Abby's shoulder. "If you want to go home and get some rest…"

Abby shook her head. "I'll stay," she said.

"The surgical waiting room's just down the hall," the nurse said, offering a reassuring smile. "The doctor or one of the surgical nurses will be in to update you as soon as possible."

Abby nodded and looked down at the floor as the older woman patter her upper arm gently and turned to leave. She heard her mutter something as she approached the door, and looked up just in time to see the nurse sidestep to avoid a collision with one of the last people she wanted to see at that particular moment.

"If you came to yell at me, maybe we could save that for another time?"

Don Kowalski sighed as he stepped into the room, his gaze sweeping from his daughter's tear-stained face to the empty space where the bed had been, a small pile of bloody bandages on the floor and a few dangling wires the only indicators that it had been recently vacated.

"I didn't come here to yell," Don said quietly, again looking around the room. "Let's take a walk."

"I don't…"

"Abby, let's take a walk," he repeated a bit more sternly.

Abby hesitated before eventually nodding and walking out of the room a few steps ahead of him, being careful to keep a small distance between her and her father as they made their way down the hallway toward the elevators.

"He's your brother's partner," Don commented as they stepped into the elevator.

Abby rolled her eyes. "I hadn't noticed," she retorted. "Do you have any real objections?"

"Excuse me?"

"Do you have any _real_ objections?" Abby repeated. "You know, something other than the fact that he's Richie's partner, because as far as I know, it's not against the law or the church for me have a relationship with someone my brother works with."

"Don't make it sound like it's so simple, Abby," Don countered as they stepped out of the elevator into the lobby. "You know as well as anyone what a partnership entails in our profession. How's your brother supposed to trust Brody after he's been lying to him for who knows how long?"

"A year and a half" Abby said quietly, crossing her arms over her chest as she stopped short of the exit doors.

"A year and a half?" Don questioned. "You've been having an affair with Brody for a year and a half?"

"Not an affair, a relationship," Abby said. "I didn't do anything wrong, and I don't have the energy to argue with you tonight, Dad."

"You've been sneaking around with Richie's partner for a year and a half, Abby," Don said in disbelief. "You can't expect me to not have something to say about that."

"I expect you've got a lot to say about it, and I'm probably not going to like most of it," Abby said, crossing her arms just below her chest and taking a deep breath to steady herself as she looked him in the eye. "But don't say it tonight, Dad. If you can't be supportive or understanding, just go back to Richie's room and stay there, because I really don't need a lecture tonight."

"Abby, you chose…"

"Don't," Abby interrupted, feeling the tears returning to her eyes. "I didn't choose to have you find out this way. I didn't choose for him to get shot, or for the decisions I had to make tonight. Yes, I chose to sleep with him, and yes, I chose to keep seeing him, but I didn't choose to fall in love with him. It just happened. And you can be mad at me, you can be disappointed in me, you can even choose to hate me for it, but right now, in this moment, while I'm waiting to find out if Brody's even going to live through the night, I'd really appreciate it if you could just save the judgement and condemnation for some other time."

"You fell in love?" Don asked in surprise.

"I didn't go looking for it," Abby said, wrapping her arms a little more tightly around her waist as she stared out the doors at the rain hitting the pavement. "I should go back up. No point in walking in the rain. I should be there in case the doctor comes out anyway."

Don sighed as he watched his daughter turn and rush back to the elevator, not knowing if there was anything he could say to get through to her in that moment.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Well, I did warn you all that updates would probably be sporadic, but I hope that this is worth the wait! Once again, a warning that updates may take time, but this story _will_ be completed.

* * *

Sheila forced a smile on her face as she watched Laura and a nurse trying to help Richie into the back of the SUV the police department had sent to take him home that morning.

"I should stay here," Richie insisted, looking back at his mother as he stood up from the wheelchair. "I shouldn't be leaving with Brody still in surgery."

Sheila shook her head. "You're not going to do him any good here," she said. "Go home and get some rest."

"I'm fine, Mom, I…"

"You are not fine," Laura interrupted. "Do I need to remind you that you were shot yesterday?"

Richie sighed and raised his arm to show the sling currently holding it up. "No, this does a pretty good job of reminding me of that," he said. "But it wasn't serious. I need to be here, I…"

"You need to be at home with your wife and your son," Donnie said, stepping forward from the background. "We'll call and keep you updated on Brody."

"What, like you've kept me updated on him and Abby?" Richie asked. "I don't think I trust your updates, I'd rather…"

"Enough!" Sheila exclaimed. "We are not having this argument again, not here. Richie, get in the car and go home. I will call you as soon as we know anything about Brody."

"But…"

"Richard Kowalski, get in that car!" Sheila instructed.

Richie sighed and nodded, letting the nurse help him up into the vehicle. Laura shot Sheila a grateful look as she closed the door and hesitated for a moment.

"If it's bad news, call my cell," she finally said. "Don't call him."

Sheila nodded in understanding. "He'll be fine," she said. "We'll all figure this out."

Laura hesitated again, looking as though she had something else to say, but eventually simply shook her head and made her way around to climb into the other side of the SUV.

"Now, you and I need to talk," Sheila said, turning toward her oldest son.

"About what?" Donnie asked innocently.

Sheila crossed her arms over her chest and shot a sharp glare at him.

"Fine," Donnie sighed. "Can we at least do this over coffee?"

* * *

Abby groaned as a sharp pain in her neck jolted her out of her fitful sleep and she shifted to sit upright in her chair. Slowly, she brought her hand up to her neck and rubbed in gently, painfully aware that this was likely only the first of pain aches and pains which were going to crop up as a result of the night spent curled up in the hard waiting room chairs. Leaning her head back against the wall, she sighed and closed her eyes again.

"You know, they probably have cots in this place if you'd just asked."

Abby jumped at the unexpected sound, her eyes flying open as her head turned toward the woman in the doorway.

"Jesus Christ, Lina, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" she asked, relaxing back into the chair.

"You hiding from someone?" Lina asked, walking into the room and handing Abby one of the two coffees she held in her hands.

Abby shrugged and set the coffee cup on side table without tasting it. "My family," she admitted.

"Ah," Lina nodded and took a seat next to Abby. "The news of the secret boyfriend went over that well, huh?"

"You heard?"

Lina laughed. "Abby, half the department's heard by this point," she said. "I had a few theories on who your mystery man was, but none of them involved your brother's partner. I have to hand it to you, though, he's gorgeous."

"What do you mean, my mystery man?" Abby asked. "What made you think I was seeing someone?"

"Because the only miraculous conception I believe in happened over two thousand years ago," Lina said. "So there had to be someone responsible, and if you were sleeping around, I figured you'd be more careful with your birth control."

Abby stared at her partner incredulously.

"Oh, don't give me that look," Lina said. "I'm not blind, Abby. You stopped drinking coffee three weeks ago, you get tired walking down the block, and I've seen you throw up in a trash can four times in the last two weeks. If you're not pregnant, I'm Mother Theresa."

"You never said a word," Abby commented.

"Figured you'd tell me when it was time," Lina said. "So, how far along are you?"

"Eight weeks," Abby admitted. "My family doesn't know yet."

"I assumed as much," Lina said. "How's Brody feel about becoming a daddy?"

Abby bit her lower lip and looked away.

"You haven't told him yet," Lina said knowingly. "What were you waiting for?"

"You'll think it's stupid," Abby said. "Hell, _I_ think it's stupid."

"Try me."

"I'm not the girl who does the big, romantic gestures," Abby said. "That's Brody in this relationship. The day I found out, I was going to just tell him that night. And then I thought, why not make it special? Why not shock him by doing something big?"

"What were you going to do?" Lina asked.

"He owns a house," Abby said. "A couple hours outside the city. We've been remodeling it, and…"

"We?" Lina interrupted. "I have a hard time picturing you hanging drywall."

"I'm very good at painting," Abby said defensively. "Anyway, the place is almost done, but there are a few rooms we couldn't decide what to do with, and I thought…I've been out there every night this week, working on turning the one next to our bedroom into a nursery."

"Seriously?"

"Shut up, I told you you'd think it was stupid," Abby said. "We were supposed to go out there together last night, and I was going to take him into the room and let him figure it out. I had it all planned out and now…now he might not ever know at all. Why didn't I tell him when I had the chance?"

"Hey, don't think like that," Lina said, putting her hand on Abby's forearm. "He's going to be fine."

Abby shook her head. "He's been in surgery for almost twelve hours, Lina."

"That's a good sign, Abby," Lina assured her. "If it wasn't going to work, they would have been done hours ago."

"I hope you're right," Abby said softly. "I really hope you're right."

* * *

"Alright," Donnie said, settling into a chair in the small lobby cafe, a cup of coffee in his hand. "Let me have it. I'm a terrible son, a terrible brother, an awful person? All because you object to Abby having a boyfriend?"

"Don't be dramatic, Donald, you know I don't think you're any of those things," Sheila said. "This isn't about me not wanting Abby to have a boyfriend. Lord knows, I think she should be having some fun from time to time, and I've told her as much."

"So what is this?" Donnie asked. "You don't like Brody?"

"I think John is a wonderful young man," Sheila said. "He's a good officer, a good partner to Richie. I have no basis to judge what he'd be like in a relationship, but if your sister's happy, I can't object to that either."

"So…you're not mad?" Donnie asked in confusion.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm livid," Sheila said, pausing to take a sip of her coffee. "But it has nothing to do with Abby dating John Brody. How could you and Steve let her keep that a secret? How could the two of you conspire with your sister to keep something that important from Richie?"

Donnie sighed. "There wasn't any conspiring, Mom, we told you that last night," he said. "She didn't confide in us, we stumbled upon it. Believe me, Steve would probably rather have rammed a fireplace poker in his eye."

"Why?"

Donnie shook his head and laughed. "Because at least they were somewhat clothed when I found out about them," he said. "Steve, on the other hand, was so excited to tell Abby that Gail's expecting again that he didn't wait for her to answer her door, and he walked in on them…well, they were…you know…"

"Oh," Sheila's eyes widened as she covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh dear."

"Yeah."

"I suppose that would be somewhat traumatizing for him," she agreed.

"You're not bothered by that?"

"By what? The fact that my daughter has sex?" Sheila asked innocently. "I was young once too, Donnie, I remember how it goes. I think I'd be concerned if she wasn't."

"Okay, this conversation is definitely not going the way I imagined it would," Donnie said. "I don't want to think about Abby's sex life, so can we drop that part?"

"You boys are such prudes," Sheila teased, shaking her head. "Alright, I'll drop it. If you didn't walk in on them, how did you find out?"

"The newspaper."

"You found out about your sister's relationship from the newspaper?"

Donnie nodded. "They were in the background of a picture, buried way back in the social pages. I only saw it because it was the only thing I had to read while I was waiting around for Amy to drop off some paperwork. They weren't kissing or anything in the picture, but they looked close, and I thought it was kind of odd that she was out with him outside of work."

"And of course, you went off and confronted her about it?"

"Of course…"

 _Abby shivered slightly as she tip-toed out of the bathroom and slipped back into bed, being careful not to disturb the man sleeping next to her. Yesterday had been a long, trying day, and she knew it had taken most of the night for him to fall asleep._

 _She felt a little guilty for insisting that they attend, but as she'd pointed out to Brody, when the fire commissioner himself calls to invite you to an event, you don't turn him down. And so he'd put on his dress blues, and she'd put on a black dress, and for the first time in twenty-five years, John Brody walked into his father's old firehouse. The re-dedication in honor of the fallen engine company had been difficult, and she was honestly surprised he'd stayed through the whole thing._

 _Since they'd left, she'd tried to be supportive, tried to figure out what it was she could do to help, but she knew she was failing. She simply couldn't relate, couldn't even imagine what he was experiencing. The thought of even a day without her father scared her, let alone the twenty-five years that he'd lived thus far._

 _With a sigh, she pulled the covers up over her shoulders and snuggled up against his chest to wait for him to wake up._

 _A sudden knock on the door jolted them both wide awake, and Brody shot her a look of confusion._

 _"What time is it?" he whispered._

 _"Eight."_

 _"Who the hell's knocking on your door at eight in the morning on a Saturday?" he groaned._

 _"Be quiet, maybe they'll go away."_

 _"Abby! I know you're in there, so open up!"_

 _"Shit," Abby muttered, recognizing her brother's voice. "Hide."_

 _"Excuse me?" Brody asked. "What happened to waiting him out?"_

 _Abby shook her head as she pulled back the covers and tugged on his arm to get him out of bed. "Not going to happen," she said. "If I don't open up, he'll just let himself in."_

 _"He's got a key?"_

 _"All my brothers do," Abby said._

 _Brody shook his head as he let her push him into the closet. "We're changing your locks when this is over."_

 _Abby laughed and leaned forward to kiss him quickly before stepping back and closing the door in his face. After taking a brief moment to adjust her t-shirt and smooth down her hair, she opened the front door._

 _"Donnie, what the hell are you doing here at this hour?" she asked. "Has something happened? Is it Mom or Dad?"_

 _Donnie shook his head and stepped around Abby into the apartment, a newspaper clutched in his hand. "We need to talk, Abby."_

 _"Okay," Abby said hesitantly. "And it couldn't wait until I'd had my coffee?"_

 _"No," Donnie said, handing her the newspaper, which had been folded back to a specific page._

 _Abby frowned as she looked down at the grainy black and white image printed on the social pages, just underneath the headline, 'Firehouse Renamed to Honor Fallen Heroes'. As she studied the image, Abby paled as she realized what her brother had seen - there at the back of the image, sitting side by side, were her and Brody. The photographer had impeccable timing, she thought, as she looked at the way her hand rested comfortingly on his knee, her head tilted to rest on his shoulder, as his arm wrapped tightly around her waist._

 _"What, um, what did you want to talk about?" she asked nervously._

 _"Don't play dumb, Abby, I know you see it," he said. "What were you doing at that ceremony? And with Brody?"_

 _"It's an interdepartmental thing," Abby lied. "You know, the police department supporting the fire department."_

 _"Yeah, I know, that's why the police commissioner's sitting in the front row there," Donnie said. "But I'm not dumb enough to believe that a beat cop and an IA detective are important enough to represent the whole department at something like this, so try again. This was a swanky event, Abby. Hell, even the mayor was there. How'd you even get in the building?"_

 _"What exactly do you want me to say?" Abby asked. "Read the damn article."_

 _"Excuse me?"_

 _Abby shook her head and quickly scanned the article, finding the relevant paragraph and pointing to it as she handed the paper back to Donnie._

 _"Twenty-five years ago yesterday, the ten members of Engine 12 made the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of Chicago's citizens. Fire Commissioner Nate O'Connell stressed that though many of the firefighters who now work in the building hadn't even taken their first steps when the tragedy occurred, that sacrifice would not be forgotten by anyone who entered the newly renovated and re-dedicated firehouse. In a poignant moment, he then recognized the families of Engine 12 that were present, including…" Donnie's voice trailed off as he read through the list and looked up at Abby in surprise. "Officer John Brody, CPD, son of firefighter Thomas Brody?"_

 _Abby nodded sadly._

 _"Shit," Donnie muttered. "I had no idea."_

 _"Yeah, well…" Abby shrugged._

 _"Alright, that explains why Brody was there," Donnie said. "Now care to explain why you were there with him? Or why the two of you look so cozy?"_

 _Abby swallowed hard. "Not particularly, no."_

 _"Well that's just too darn bad," Donnie said. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Abby? Hitting on Richie's partner?"_

 _"Hitting on him?"_

 _"Whatever the hell you want to call it," Donnie said. "Don't tell me you're slept with him. Oh my God, Abby, you slept with him, didn't you?"_

 _Abby opened her mouth to deny it, but found herself unexpectedly defensive. "So what if I have?" she asked. "We're two consenting adults, there's nothing untoward going on."_

 _"He's Richie's partner!" Donnie exclaimed. "How could you do that to Richie?"_

 _"I'm not doing anything to Richie," Abby protested. "He's got nothing to do with my relationship with Brody."_

 _"Oh, so now this is a relationship?" Donnie asked incredulously. "That's just great. Abby, have you even thought about what this will do to Richie? You have to stop this, right now. It's inappropriate, not to mention selfish and…"_

 _"Oh, shut up!" Abby interrupted. "You have no right to barge in here and tell me what to do."_

 _"I'm your brother."_

 _"Oh for God's sake, would you drop it?" Abby almost screamed. "I am so unbelievably sick of you and Steve and Richie thinking that you have any right to dictate what I do or do not do in MY life. You do not get to tell me who I date, and you sure as hell do not get to control who I fall in love with!"_

 _Abby froze as the unexpected words left her mouth, completely ignoring Donnie as she heard the closet door open behind her and she turned to face Brody._

 _"You mean that?" he asked._

 _Abby nodded. "Yeah," she said, unsure which of them was more surprised. "I love you."_


	8. Chapter 8

Sheila took a sip of her coffee and watched Donnie's face as she set her mug down again. "I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around this," she said. "Why was there so much secrecy? Why not just tell us that she was seeing John?"

Donnie shrugged. "You'd have to ask Abby," he said. "But given the way everyone's reacted now, can you really blame her?"

"It isn't that she's dating him that I have a problem with," Sheila said. "It's the way we found out, it's the fact that she didn't choose to tell us. It took John and Richie getting shot for it to come out, and even then, she didn't say anything until he needed surgery."

"I don't know what you want me to say, Mom," Donnie said. "I'm not going to sit here and try to defend Abby's actions to you, that's her job. I'm just saying, cut her some slack until Brody's out of the woods, because whether you believe it or not, she's in love with him and right now, this has got to be hell for her."

"I can't even imagine," Sheila said. "I mean, it was hard when your father had his heart attack a few months ago, but even then, he got to the hospital so quickly, he wasn't ever really in danger of dying."

"Except for when you wanted to kill him for having a heart attack a week before your anniversary trip to Hawaii."

"Well, yes, there was that," Sheila agreed with a laugh. "But if Abby really loves John and his condition is that serious…it's just hard to relate, Donnie. I can hardly recall seeing her speak to John, let alone seeing any indication that she's in love with him. It's hard to reconcile that with her being so upset."

"You're just going to have to take my word for it," Donnie said. "They're in love with each other, Mom."

Sheila sighed again. "Was she ever going to tell us?"

"I would think so," Donnie said. "I mean, I really doubt she was actually going to go through with marrying him without telling the rest of the family."

Sheila's eyes widened. "Marry him?" she repeated in shock. "Donnie, are you telling me that your sister is engaged?"

"Crap," Donnie muttered, shaking his head. "Okay, you did not hear that, Mom."

"Donnie, are they engaged?" Sheila asked.

"I didn't mean it that way," Donnie said. "They're not engaged, Mom. Not yet, anyway, not that I know of."

Sheila raised her eyebrows and stared at her son.

"Alright, but you don't breathe a word of this to anyone, even Dad," Donnie said, waiting for her to nod before continuing. "He was going to propose this weekend."

"And you know this how?"

"He came to see me about two weeks ago," Donnie said. "I guess he thought since most of the family didn't know about them, and Steve was still basically pretending he didn't know, he wanted to talk about it or get my blessing or something, I don't know."

"Did you give it to him?" Sheila asked. "Because I'm fairly certain the reason your sister hasn't had that many boyfriends is that you and your brothers tend to threaten to beat them up when they get too close."

"She's not a teenager anymore, Mom, she doesn't need our protection," Donnie said.

"Well, it's about damn time you boys realized that," Sheila said. "What changed your mind?"

Donnie shrugged. "She's happy with him, Mom," he said. "She's got this look in her eyes I've never seen. And I told him that, and that if he could figure out how to do it without Richie killing him, I'd be proud to have him marry my sister."

"Do you think she would have said yes?"

Donnie hesitated but nodded. "Yeah, I think she would have," he said, pausing to pull his phone out of his pocket at the sound of a text notification.

"What's wrong?" Sheila asked, immediately noticing the change in his facial expression.

"It's from Abby," Donnie said, already halfway out of his chair. "Something happened in surgery. We need to be up there with her."

* * *

"I hope it has his eyes."

Abby took a sip out of her water bottle and glanced over at her partner in confusion. They'd been sitting in comfortable silence for at least half an hour, so it took her a minute to even register that Lina had spoken. "Who?"

"The baby, duh," Lina said, gesturing to Abby's stomach. "I hope it has Brody's eyes. He has nice eyes."

"What are you saying? That I _don't_ have nice eyes?"

Lina shrugged. "If I had to choose a pair for the kid…"

"What are you doing staring at my boyfriend's eyes anyway?"

"Hey, you're the one who didn't tell anyone that he was taken," Lina said. "And trust me, Abby, every woman in the department who's got a pulse has admired a lot more than his eyes."

"You're horrible, you know that?" Abby said. "Aren't you supposed to be making me feel better? And you're…"

Abby didn't bother to finish her thought, leaving her words hanging as she jumped to her feet at the opening of the door. She felt Lina standing just behind her as the doctor approached them.

"Is he alive?" Abby asked anxiously, not waiting for Dr. Harrison to speak. "I don't care if he's going to walk again, I don't…please, just tell me he's alive."

"There were some complications," Dr. Harrison said hesitantly. "But yes, he's alive."

"Oh, thank God," Abby sighed, shaking slightly as she took a deep breath.

"What sort of complications?" Lina asked, stepping forward and putting a hand on Abby's forearm to steady her.

"The decompression went well, but near the end of surgery, he went into cardiac arrest," he said gently. "We were able to resuscitate him, but it took almost ten minutes to get his pulse back."

"What does that mean?" Abby asked. "He's okay, right?"

"His vitals are stable for now," Dr. Harrison said. "But there's no way to know what the long-term consequences may be from the amount of time the brain was deprived of oxygen."

"What are you saying? He might have brain damage?" Abby asked.

Dr. Harrison nodded. "It's a potential outcome you need to be aware of," he said. "It's possible he may never wake up."

"Oh my God," Abby gasped.

"It's also possible he could wake up in the next few hours and have no significant deficits," Dr. Harrison continued. "Or anything in between those two extremes."

"So what you're saying is, we won't know anything until he wakes up," Lina clarified.

"I'm afraid so," Dr. Harrison said. "Like I said, most of the surgery went about as well as anyone could have expected. At this point, there's just no way to know what, if any, complications he'll have, and until he wakes up, there's no way to know if the surgery was successful in repairing the nerve damage."

"So now what? We just wait?" Abby asked.

"There's nothing else left to do," Dr. Harrison said. "I'm sorry, I wish I had better news."

"Can I see him?" Abby asked. "I need to see him, I need to touch him, I…I need to see him."

"He's still in recovery right now," Dr. Harrison said. "We'll be monitoring him there for another hour or so, but once he's back in the ICU, I'll make sure the nurses know you can sit with him for a bit. But his condition remains critical, and the ICU isn't set up for extended visits, so it'll have to be just you."

"That's fine," Abby said.

"Thank you," Lina added, earning a nod from the doctor before he patted Abby's shoulder and left the room. "Come on, Abby, sit down for a minute."

Abby was shaking as Lina led her back to her seat. "He has to wake up," she said quietly. "He has to."

"He will," Lina assured her, squeezing her hand as she sat down next to her. "He will."


	9. Chapter 9

"Still nothing?"

Donnie glanced over his shoulder and shook his head as Steve approached him. He'd been hovering around or in the small ICU waiting room for most of the morning and afternoon, and had been standing just outside the door when he'd heard his brother approach.

"No change," he said. "They just took him upstairs to run some more tests. Apparently they've got him on a lot of heavy duty meds for the pain, and that might be part of why he's not waking up yet. The neurosurgeon was in about an hour ago and didn't seem all that concerned. "

"Still, it's been what? 14, 15 hours since he came out of surgery?" Steve asked, glancing down at his watch. "I was sure when I left at lunch to check on the kids that he'd be awake by the time I came back."

"Yeah, well, he's not," Donnie said. "And don't talk like that in front of Abby, she's freaked out enough as it is. She's barely eating, and when we did finally get her to have a sandwich, she couldn't even keep it down. The stress is really hitting her hard."

"Has Richie been calling you?" Steve asked. "Because he's been calling me basically every half an hour. I'm about ready to have Laura confiscate his phone."

"That thought had occurred to me too," Donnie said. "He's probably going stir-crazy already. I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to come back to work on Monday."

"I'll be surprised if he doesn't," Steve said, turning his head as the door to the waiting room opened.

"You guys don't have to stick around," Abby said as she walked out. "I'm sure you have much better things to do today than hang around this place."

"I can't think of anything," Donnie said, looking over at Steve. "Steve?"

"My dance card's open," Steve said with a shrug. "Do you need anything? Coffee? Food? A stiff drink?"

Abby laughed and shook her head. "I'm okay," she said unconvincingly. "I'm serious, though, you two don't have to stay. Mom's here, and Lina is apparently using me as an excuse to avoid her children, and Dad's hovering somewhere or other trying to figure out how long he can pretend he wasn't a jerk last night…"

Abby paused as both her brother raised their eyebrows in surprise.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," she said. "He was a jerk and we all know it. When he's ready to apologize, I'll probably forgive him, but I'm not going to rush out looking for him. For once in my life, I really could not care less what he thinks."

"Really?" Donnie asked skeptically.

"Really," Abby said. "I have way too many other things to worry about. I…"

"You guys are never going to believe who I just saw in the lobby," Lina gushed, walking up to the siblings and interrupting Abby's train of thought.

"Who?" Donnie asked, somewhat unenthusiastically.

"Jeremiah Ellington."

"You did not," Steve said.

"I did," Lina insisted. "Well, either him or someone who looks exactly like him. Silver hair, glasses, ruddy cheeks, fancy Italian suit that probably cost more than I make in six months. I'm telling you, it was him."

"What would Jeremiah Ellington be doing here?" Donnie asked.

"I don't know, the man owns half of Chicago," Lina said. "There's got to be a wing named after him around here somewhere, and if there's not, maybe that's what he's working on."

"You think he can spare me a few hundred while he's here?" Steve teased.

Donnie laughed. "The man probably pulls that out of his couch cushions," he said.

"Abby?" Lina said gently, realizing that she had yet to say anything and was now staring down the hallway like she'd seen a ghost. "Are you alright?"

Abby shook her head. "That son of a bitch," she muttered, pushing past her brothers and heading down the hall toward the man she'd just spotted at the nurses' station.

"Hey, isn't that…?" Donnie began.

"Told you it was him," Lina said. "What is Abby doing?"

* * *

With her brothers and partner watching in confusion, Abby walked down the hallway as the older man at the nurses' station turned and a look of recognition crossed his face.

"Abby," he said quietly as she approached and stopped just in front of him. "I…"

"You have no right to be here," Abby said, shaking her head. "You need to leave."

"He's my grandson."

"You lost your right to call him that a long time ago," Abby said. "I thought he made that very clear to you the last time you saw him."

"He did," Jeremiah agreed. "Look, I just need to know that he's alright. Please, I…I just need to know."

Abby sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I can't tell you that."

"Abby, please…"

"I can't tell you that because I don't know," Abby said. "Even his doctors don't know. He's not alright, Mr. Ellington, and no one knows if he's going to be. What I do know is that the last thing he needs right now is you barging in here and pretending to care."

"I do care," Jeremiah protested. "I may not show it well, and I know we've had our conflicts, but I've always cared about him, from the moment I found about him, I've loved my grandson."

Abby scoffed. "Yeah, you've got one hell of a way of showing it," she said. "You had nothing to do with him for six and a half years, until his father's death forced you to. Then when he didn't live up to your grand plans for his life, you just cut him off like he was nothing to you. And now, for reasons I can't even fathom, you seem to want to buy your way back into his life?"

"Not one of those things is correct," Jeremiah said. "I've made mistakes, but I never did anything that I didn't think was in his best interests."

"I find that difficult to believe," Abby said. "But I'm not going to argue with you. I just want you to leave."

Jeremiah sighed, looking like he had more to say, but decided against it. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a business card and handed it to Abby.

"It's a direct line," he said. "It'll ring straight to my cell phone."

Abby hesitated, staring at the card for a moment before taking it.

"Please, call me if there are any changes," he said. "Or if there's anything that either of you needs. Anything."

Abby watched as he slowly turned and nodded to the middle age man who had stood a respectful distance behind him throughout the conversation.

"He means well," the man said to Abby, watching as Jeremiah pressed the button for the elevator and waited quietly.

"I wish I could believe that," Abby said, pausing as something occurred to her. "What exactly did he mean, nothing I said is correct?"

The man sighed and shook his head. "I've worked for the Ellingtons for almost forty years," he said. "The truth is no where near as simple as you or Mr. Brody may believe, but it's a story you should hear from Mr. Ellington, or perhaps his daughter, but not me. I'm sorry, I have to go."

Abby frowned as she watched him hurry toward the elevator and step on just as the doors closed. For a moment, she simply stood there and stared at the spot where the two men had stood, not sure what to make of what had just happened.

Turning around, she almost wished she'd followed them as she came face to face with her brothers and partner.

"What the hell was that?" Donnie asked.

"What?"

"You just had a conversation with Jeremiah Ellington," Steve said. "The richest man in Chicago walked into this hospital, had a conversation with you, and then left. What was that about?"

"It's none of your business," Abby said defensively.

"Oh come on, you don't get to do that," Donnie said. "What was he doing here?"

"It's a long story," Abby said.

"We've got time," Lina countered.

"I…"

"Ms. Kowalski?"

Abby thanked her lucky stars as she turned toward the nurse who'd called her name. "Yes?"

"You're needed in the ICU right away."

Almost immediately, Abby felt her heart racing nervously. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Please, come with me," the nurse said.

"We'll be right here," Donnie assured her gently, squeezing her hand as she walked past him, a look of dread in her eyes as she tried to imagine what awaited her on the other side of those doors. As the watched her pass through them, Steve, Donnie, and Lina all said a silent prayer, knowing there was nothing else they could do but wait.


	10. Chapter 10

Abby wanted to scream as she followed the nurse through the doors into the restricted area of the ICU. She wanted to yell and shout and demand to be told what was going on. But she kept quiet, not uttering a word as they walked past the line of darkened rooms with steadily humming machines, wondering if she even wanted to hear the answers to the questions screaming inside her head.

As they approached the room near the end of the line, the one she'd grown so familiar with over the last twenty-four hours, she felt her heart start to race again. Dr. Harrison stepped out of the room just as they reached the doors.

"Ms. Kowalski," he said.

"Is he alive?" Abby asked. "Just tell me he's still alive."

"He's alive," Dr. Harrison confirmed, causing Abby to let out the breath she'd been holding. "We've reduced his sedation, and he's responding enough that we've been able to run a few diagnostic exams on his neuromuscular function. I…"

"Responding?" Abby asked, latching onto the word. "Are you saying he's awake?"

"He's closer to consciousness than he has been since he arrived," the doctor said. "This isn't going to be something that happens at the snap of a finger, though. He's groggy and he's not yet fully breathing on his own, so he won't be able to speak as long as the intubation remains in place."

"Is he in pain?" Abby asked.

"He probably is, yes," Dr. Harrison said. "It's a difficult balance between pain control and reducing the sedation enough that we're able to start to assess his status and his potential for recovery."

"I don't understand what you're saying," Abby said. "Is he going to be alright or not?"

"Things are looking better this afternoon than they did this morning," Dr. Harrison said cautiously. "He's responding to sensory tests in his upper and lower extremities, and he showing signs of increased consciousness."

"So he's going to be okay? He'll walk?" Abby asked.

Dr. Harrison sighed. "I know you want definitive answers, Ms. Kowalski, and I wish I could give you what you're looking for, but it's still too early to say for sure. There's still no telling what, if any, long term consequences there may be from the bullet's trajectory or his cardiac arrest. All I can tell you is that things look a little better than they did a few hours ago."

"Okay," Abby nodded. "Can I see him?"

"Of course," Dr. Harrison said. "But remember what I said. He'll be groggy, and it's entirely possible he won't respond to you at all. He's only just beginning to regain a normal level of consciousness, so it may be several days before you're able to actually have any sort of meaningful communication with him."

Abby nodded and let Dr. Harrison walk her into the room. At first glance, it seemed as though nothing had changed from the last time she'd been in there. The machines continue to hum and beep in a rhythmic pattern, there were still dozens of tubes and wires hooked up to Brody's too-still body lying in the bed, and it all still felt like something out of a bad dream.

As had become her habit, she grabbed the nearby chair and pulled it up close to the bed. Grabbing his hand, her heart skipped a beat as she watched his eyes flutter open and move in her direction.

"Hi," she whispered, almost afraid to speak. "Hi."

For a moment, she sat there waiting for him to respond, before remembering the doctor's caution that he wouldn't be able to.

"Do you even know what's going?" Abby asked, trying to read an answer in his eyes as he continued to simply look at her. "Do you have any idea how scared I've been? Because I need you to understand that, because if you ever put me through something like that again, I swear to God I will kill you myself."

Abby shook her head and used her free hand to wipe a tear from her cheek.

"You promised me you weren't going to leave me," she said. "Remember that? You promised…"

 _Abby sighed and leaned back in the lounge chair as she took a sip of her coffee and watched the sunrise over the lake. When she'd moved out of her parents' house to go to college, she'd be certain that she'd never find another place that felt as much like home, but sitting there on that deck after another weekend at Brody's lake house, she knew she'd been wrong._

 _Turning her head at the sound of the screen door opening, she smiled as Brody stepped out onto the deck, a tray in his hands._

 _"_ _What's this?" she asked, laughing as he set it down on the table next to her chair._

 _"_ _Well, we call this stuff here bacon," Brody teased, pointing to one of the plates. "And this here is scrambled eggs, and then we have orange juice, and…"_

 _"_ _Thank you, genius, I can see that," Abby interrupted with a laugh. "Why are you bringing me breakfast?"_

 _"_ _I can't bring a pretty girl breakfast without a reason?"_

 _"_ _No."_

 _"_ _Okay, then," Brody said. "Do you know what today is?"_

 _"_ _Um…Sunday?"_

 _Brody laughed. "Do you know what else it is?"_

 _Abby frowned and furrowed her brow, gasping when it hit her. "Oh God, it's Richie's birthday, isn't it? I completely forgot!"_

 _"_ _And you know what that means, don't you?" Brody asked. "Exactly one year ago tonight, I showed up late to his party, just in time to rescue you outside that bar and sweep you off your feet, which is when you started falling in love with me."_

 _"_ _Is that how you remember it?" Abby asked, laughing as she picked up a piece of bacon and took a bite. "Because I seem to recall it differently. You're the one who got us in the same cab."_

 _Brody shook his head. "Do you really think that creep would have left you alone if we'd left in separate cabs after the show we put on for him?" he asked. "And once we were in the cab, I'm fairly certain you jumped me, and I'm absolutely certain that the words 'your place or mine' came out of your mouth."_

 _"_ _So you made me breakfast because a year ago we had sex for the first time?"_

 _"_ _No, I made you breakfast because I love you, and it's our anniversary," Brody said._

 _"_ _This is not our anniversary," Abby insisted._

 _"_ _Of course it is," Brody said. "What would you consider our anniversary?"_

 _Abby paused and considered the question. "I don't know," she admitted. "We haven't ever really gone a real date, have we?"_

 _"_ _Not really," Brody agreed. "So if you don't have a better answer, I say, 'happy anniversary'."_

 _Brody watched as Abby's smiled faltered and he immediately knew something was wrong. "What is it?" he asked. "You don't like anniversaries?"_

 _Abby shrugged. "I've only ever had one," she said. "Most of my relationships don't tend to last that long."_

 _Brody nodded and sat down on the edge of Abby's chair. Every time the discussion of past relationships came up, she backed up like she'd touched fire, so he knew he had to tread lightly._

 _"_ _What about the one that did?" he asked gently._

 _"_ _Pete Riley," she said._

 _Brody frowned as he looked at her. "Pete Riley who used to work narcotics?" he asked. "That Pete Riley?"_

 _Abby nodded. "He went through the academy with Steve," she said. "We met at their graduation. We didn't start dating right away, obviously, partly because I was only 18 at the time, and partly because, well, I was Steve's little sister. But we can into each other from time to time over the next few years, and around the time I turned 21, we started dating."_

 _"_ _Was it serious?"_

 _"_ _You could say that," Abby said. "We, uh…we were engaged. I was supposed to marry him."_

 _"_ _What happened?"_

 _"_ _Same thing that happens to all my relationships," Abby said, a hint of bitterness in her voice. "My brothers."_

 _Brody raised an eyebrow but remained silent as he waited for her to continue._

 _"_ _They'd never liked that we were dating, but I think because he was a fellow cop, they held off on pressuring him like they'd done with all my other boyfriends," Abby said. "He proposed on our one year anniversary and I said yes without even thinking about it."_

 _"_ _Were you in love with him?" Brody asked quietly._

 _Abby hesitated. "Honestly? I don't know," she admitted. "I cared about him a lot, I probably even loved him, but was I in love? I don't know."_

 _"_ _But you were going to marry him," Brody said._

 _"_ _I can't explain it very well," Abby said. "I didn't know what I wanted out of life. I'd gone to college, gotten a job, but I wasn't happy with what I was doing. I liked Pete, he was a good man and a good officer, so when he asked, I thought, maybe this is it. Maybe marrying him, being a cop's wife, being a mother, maybe that was what was going to make me happy. Honestly, I was so relieved that something finally made sense, I didn't think much about whether it was right. I couldn't wait to tell my family."_

 _"_ _I take it that didn't go well," Brody surmised._

 _"_ _That's an understatement," Abby said, shaking her head at the memory. "My mom was happy for us, but my brothers were livid. They all said I was making a horrible mistake, and they spent the next four months making his life a living hell, until eventually, he'd had enough and he called it off. It was right after that that I swore I wasn't going to depend on anybody else for my happiness ever again, I was going to figure out what I wanted out of life and I was going to go get it."_

 _"_ _And you did," Brody pointed out._

 _"_ _People leave," Abby said very matter-of-factly. "That's been the story of my life. You have to depend on yourself, because guys leave, that's just what happens. Everyone leaves, except my family. That's my life, that's what happens."_

 _"_ _That's what_ happened _, past tense," Brody corrected. "I hate to break it to you, but I'm not going anywhere."_

 _"_ _You say that now, but just you wait," Abby said. "Now that Donnie knows about us, it's only a matter of time. I've been down this road before."_

 _"_ _Not with me you haven't," Brody insisted. "Look, I can't predict how your brothers are going to react, but I don't expect them to be thrilled and I'm okay with that. Whatever they throw at me, I'm ready, and I'm not walking away from you. It's not going to happen."_

 _"_ _I wish I could believe that," Abby said. "But the odds are not in our favor, John."_

 _Brody sighed. "You said everyone leaves except your family, right?" he asked, waiting for her to nod. "Well, I don't have a lot of family in this world, and I certainly don't have any experience with a close one like yours. But I do know that I love you more than I've ever loved anyone, and in my mind, that makes you my family. So your family can bring whatever they've got, because right now, you're my only family, so I'm not letting go."_

 _Abby bit her lip as tears welled up in her eyes. "Don't make promises you can't keep," she said._

 _"_ _I don't," Brody said, leaning forward to kiss her gently. "Abby, I can't control your family is going to react when they eventually find out about us. But I can promise you, no matter what happens, I am not going anywhere. In fact, I can promise you right now, you'll have to kick me out if you want me gone, because I will never, ever leave you."_

"You promised," Abby repeated, squeezing his hand and placing her free hand on his cheek. "You said I was family, remember? And in my family, people don't leave."

Abby hesitated again, watching his eyes carefully. "I wish knew if you could understand me right now," she said. "Because it's not just us anymore, so you need to stay, not just because I love you. I had this whole plan for the weekend, you know. My big surprise. We're…we're going to have a baby, John."

As the words left her mouth, Abby felt his hand tighten around hers and she gasped slightly.

"Do you understand?" she asked, feeling her composure slipping. "I'm pregnant. You're going to be a father."

And as she felt his hand squeeze hers again, she let her head hit his shoulder as she dissolved into the tears she'd held back since walking into the hospital almost twenty-four hours earlier.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Well, it's been a few months again - as always, thank you all for your patience! School continues to kick my you-know-what (whatever version of me thought this was a good idea for my 30s, I need to talk to her), so my time for writing is more limited than I'd like. Thank you for sticking with this story!

* * *

The next morning, Abby felt a strange sense of anxiety growing inside her as she slowly slipped her key into the door of Brody's apartment. Despite her mother's best efforts to get her to go home the previous night, this was the first time she'd left the hospital since arriving two nights earlier, and although she had to admit that it felt good to breathe a bit of fresh air on the way to the apartment, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to happen. Brody's progress had been slow since he'd first opened his eyes, but the doctors and nurses kept assuring her it was to be expected. It seemed that every time she saw him, it was like the first time he'd opened his eyes - he didn't know where he was or why he was there, and he certainly didn't seem to remember the news she'd given him the first time.

Still, the doctors said he was showing signs of improvement in his vital signs, and now they were talking about trying to remove the breathing tube that afternoon. From there, they assured her that things should begin to pick up in pace, and his nurse had told her that although the pain medication would continue and probably keep him slightly groggy or confused, the heavy sedation could wear off in as little as an hour.

So, at the insistence of one of his nurses, she found herself stepping into Brody's apartment to retrieve some sort of reminder of home to bring to his hospital room. What she was supposed to be finding, she wasn't quite sure, but the woman had been adamant that anything personal might help.

Shutting the door behind her, she paused for a moment in the entry, closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. If she just stood there, she could almost imagine that this was the last morning she'd been there, that Brody was over by the bed putting on his uniform and she was waiting by the door for one last kiss before she left for work. Any minute now, he'd turn around, his shirt still undone, wearing that goofy grin that she found so obnoxious in the mornings and…

Abby shook her head and quickly opened her eyes. There was no time to let herself get lost in thoughts like that. Looking around at the sparsely decorated apartment, she tried to think of what she could take that would mean something to him. Slowly, she gathered up the very few pictures he kept around the living room area - his academy graduation, his father's official CFD portrait, a sunset from the deck of the lake house. It wasn't much, but she hoped the nurse was right and Brody might get some encouragement from reminders of life outside the hospital. Glancing down at the frames, she wished she had one of the two of them, but they'd never dared keep those in their apartments for fear someone might stumble across them. The few they did have were all safely out at the lake house, a place they knew was just for the two of them.

Juggling the pictures in her arms, she looked around for something to put them in, her gaze falling on the open duffel bag sitting on the edge of the unmade bed. Trying not to think about the getaway that bag was being packed for, she made her way over to the bed and set the pictures down on the mattress. There wasn't much in the bag, just a few t-shirts and miscellaneous items - they'd both left enough clothes and supplies at the house over the last few months that there really wasn't much packing required unless they were staying longer than a few days.

With a sigh, she reached in and started pulling out the clothes, tossing them into a pile in the middle of the bed. As she grabbed the last shirt and pulled it out, she frowned as a small box tumbled out and hit the floor. Bending over to pick it up, she felt her heart racing as it dawned on her what she was looking at. With shaking hands, she flipped open the box and gasped at the sight of the elegant diamond sparkling in the case.

 _I've got a surprise for you this weekend_ , he'd told her the last time she saw him, and she'd just laughed, sure that her own surprise would far exceed whatever he had in mind. Now, staring at the box in her hand, she wasn't quite so sure about that.

* * *

An hour later, still trying to wrap her head around the contents of the small box now tucked in her pocket, Abby stepped off the elevator onto the ICU floor and stopped dead in her tracks. She'd hoped to sneak back in without running into any of the family members who'd been hovering constantly around her. Instead, standing in front of the doorway to the ICU with his back to her, was probably the last person she wanted to deal with that morning. With a sigh, she gripped the duffel bag containing Brody's things, and took a step forward.

Turning around at the sound of footsteps, Richie offered half a smile as he watched her approach. For a moment, the two siblings stood silently and faced one another, as though each were waiting for the other to speak first.

"You look…"

"I wanted…"

Abby shook her head and smiled sadly at the awkwardness of the situation.

"You go first," Richie suggested.

"You look good," Abby said, nodding at his arm in its sling. "How long do you have to keep that thing on?"

"A week or two," Richie said. "We saw the orthopedist yesterday, he doesn't think I'll need surgery, but I might need physical therapy to get the range of motion back."

"That's good," Abby said. "Are you off work until then?"

Richie shook his head. "Sick leave until I can get the sling off, then desk duty until the occupational health people clear me for full duty," he said. "They, uh, the sergeant's already talking about getting me a new partner."

Abby nodded in response, ignoring the slight twist in her gut that the words had produced.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," she said. "It's hard to say how long Brody will out for, if he…"

"I'd have asked anyway," Richie interrupted. "Look, I get that Brody's still recovering, and I don't mean to knock a guy while he's down, but even if he wasn't in the hospital, I would have asked for a new partner anyway."

Abby frowned. "I thought you liked Brody," she said. "You said he was the best partner you'd had."

"That was before I found out you'd both been lying to me," Richie said. "You're supposed to trust your partner, right? How am I supposed to trust him when the two of you have been running around behind my back for months?"

"Richie…"

"And just because I can't very well ask for a new sister, don't think that we're okay either," Richie said. "God, Abby, how could you be so stupid?"

"Excuse me?"

"You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into, do you?" Richie asked. "I've talked to Mom, and she seems to think that you actually care about him. Do you get that you're just another notch on his belt? Another thing to talk about in the locker room? That he's just taking advantage…"

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Abby interrupted angrily. "That I hadn't heard the stories around the station? Come on, Richie, I'd have had to have been deaf to miss those, especially since you're the one who told me half of them. Trust me, I knew about his reputation."

"Then why the hell would you sleep with him?" Richie asked.

Abby almost laughed as she shook her head. "He's not the only one who had a reputation," she said. "I knew exactly what I was doing when I decided to sleep with him, Richie, and I have no regrets. He's not taking advantage of me, and this isn't just some fling."

"You don't know him like I do, Abby," Richie insisted. "He's not a guy who takes women or relationships seriously. You have to know that he's using you, and if you don't, I'm not about to let you…"

"Stop right there," Abby said, fighting to keep her voice under control. "I am not a child, and I do not need your permission to be in a relationship. Who I choose to spend time with, and yes, who I choose to have sex with, is my decision, not yours. I'm not naive, I know perfectly well what Brody's reputation around the department is, but honestly, is it any worse than yours before you met Laura?"

"I don't know, but I do know that he's going to hurt you, Abby," Richie insisted. "He's my partner, I've spent more time with him in the last three years than probably anyone else. I don't know why the hell he chose to give you his power of attorney, but if you think that means this is a serious relationship…"

"No, I think this is a serious relationship because I haven't even wanted to look at another guy in over a year," Abby said. "I think this is a serious relationship because he's told me that he loves me, and I love him. I think this is a serious relationship because I found an engagement ring in his apartment. I…"

"You've got to be kidding me," Richie interrupted. "You wouldn't actually marry him."

"I would, actually," Abby said.

"You'd really pick _him_ over your family?"

"Are you asking me to choose?" Abby asked.

"What if I am?" Richie asked.

Abby sighed and shook her head, adjusting her purse strap on her shoulder as she stepped around Richie and pressed to button next to the ICU doors to signal the nurses that she was there.

"Don't ask a question if you don't want the answer, Richie," she said.

"Excuse me?"

"You're my brother, Richie, and I love you. It would break my heart to not have you around, to not be able to call you to talk, or to not sit across the table from you at every holiday at Mom and Dad's," Abby said as the ICU doors buzzed open. She took a step forward before turning back briefly to face her brother. "But if you ask me to choose, if you force me to make that choice, I choose him. If this is your ultimatum, I pick John, every time, no hesitation. So don't ask me to make that choice, Richie, because you will not like my answer."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** I'm so sorry that it is taking me so long to get these chapters written and posted - as I've said, being in school again has taken most of my writing time these days. Still, I do enjoy my breaks and having the chance to delve into this story when I can - I have some fun things planned in the next few chapters, so I hope to get those to you in a much shorter interval! As always, thank you all so much for your patience and your continued reviews and messages!

* * *

Abby felt as though her heart might race out of her chest that evening as she stood near the doorway of Brody's room and watched the doctor and nurses adjust the machines and tubes at his bedside in preparation for what they were about to do. After what felt like an eternity, one of the nurses turned and motioned for her to come over. She wasn't quite sure how she made it across the room, but she slowly walked over and stood where the nurse indicated.

"You can hold his hand if you'd like," the nurse said. "This won't take long."

Abby nodded as she slipped her hand into his, still not quite sure what to expect.

"How long has it been since sedation was discontinued?" Dr. Harrison asked from his spot at the head of the bed.

"Thirty minutes," one of the nurses said.

"That should be just about enough," he said, leaning forward and putting a hand on Brody's shoulder, jostling him slight. "John? John, wake up. That's it, open your eyes, John."

Abby squeezed his hand as he slowly opened his eyes, the drowsiness caused by the medications still evident in his eyes as the adjusted to the light.

"I'm right here, John," she said, squeezing his hand again. "I'm right here."

"John, you've done really well on our tests this afternoon, so we're going to get that tube out of your throat now," Dr. Harrison said. "I need you to focus on me, this is something you've got to help us with, alright?"

Brody hesitated for a moment, locking eyes with Abby before nodding slowly.

To Abby, the ensuing minutes seemed to drag on forever, and yet were over in the blink of an eye at the same time. She was certain she hadn't taken a breath of her own from the moment the nurses shut off the ventilator until the tube was out and Brody was successfully breathing on his own. She managed to hold it together while the staff ran their tests and monitored his vital signs for a few minutes, and then suddenly, the nurse was patting her on the shoulder in reassurance and the two of them were alone.

"Hi," she half-whispered, not sure she wouldn't burst into tears if she tried to say anything more.

"Hi," Brody replied, his voice hoarse and cracking from the breathing tube. "What…what happened?"

Abby sighed as she pulled up a chair and sat down at his side, remembering the doctor's earlier admonition that the trauma of the shooting was very likely to have affected his memory to some degree.

"What do you remember?" she asked hesitantly.

Brody frowned as he thought back. "I was on patrol with Richie," he said. "There was a call…a robbery…I remember radioing in that we'd respond…nothing after that."

Abby nodded. "You two were first on scene," she said. "There were two perps, both armed. You and Richie, you were both shot."

"Richie…"

"He's fine," Abby assured him quickly. "It was just his shoulder, the shot was through-and-through. They basically just bandaged him up and sent him home with a prescription for PT."

"Good. That's good."

The two of them sat in silence for a few moments, Abby holding tightly to his hand as she watched him take in his surroundings and struggle to connect his last memories to this moment.

"How…how long?" he asked.

"You've been unconscious for almost three days," Abby said.

Brody nodded slowly, clearly in pain. "Have…have you slept?" he asked.

Abby wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or cry at the question. "Shut up," she said, tears welling up in her eyes as she shook her head. "You don't get to tell me to sleep, okay? Not when you've been here in surgery and they were telling me you might not make it, and you did, you died…you actually died on in that operating room, your heart wasn't beating. Do you have any idea how scared I've been? And I haven't been able to talk to anyone, because Donnie would hover, and Steve's uncomfortable, Mom's confused…and Richie and Dad, they're furious at us. And I…I can't even explain how scary this has been, so don't you dare try to talk to me about sleeping."

Brody frowned and slowly lifted his hand to rest it on her cheek. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I…I'm sorry."

"I know," Abby said, clasping her hand over his before returning them to the bed. "And I know it's not like you got shot on purpose."

Brody smiled. "True," he said. "So…Richie knows?"

"Everyone knows," Abby said.

"Are you…are you okay?" Brody asked, knowing how hesitant she'd been about revealing their relationship to her family.

"Yeah," Abby said, noting the look of skepticism he had. "I am, I promise. It was time, anyway."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Abby said. "Remember how we were going out to the lake for the weekend?"

"The surprise…"

"My surprise," Abby agreed.

"No, I had…something planned," Brody said.

Abby hesitated for a moment. "I know," she admitted, earning a questioning look from him as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the ring box. "I went to your apartment this morning to get some things for you. I, uh, I found it in your bag."

"I…wrote a speech," Brody said. "Can't remember a word of it, but I…I wrote it. Thought it might convince you to say yes."

Abby shook her head. "I don't need convincing, John," she said, pressing the box into his hand. "Just ask."

Brody nodded, struggling slightly to open the box one-handed, as his other was still tied down with IVs and monitors on the other side of the bed. "This wasn't quite what I pictured, but what the hell," he said, his increased heart rate beeping on the monitor as he watched Abby's face. "Abby Kowalski, will you be my wife?"

Abby looked at him for a split second, the tears now rolling down her cheeks as she nodded. "Yes," she said, leaning forward and kissing him softly. "Yes."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Abby said, nodding as she laughed through her tears, looking down as he slipped the ring on her finger. "What did you think I was going to say?"

"Wasn't sure," Brody admitted.

"I know it's not going to be easy," Abby said. "But I don't care. I don't think I knew that until Donnie told you'd been shot, but it's the truth. I don't care what anyone else says or does, I don't care if Richie never speaks to me again, all I need is for you to be okay and for us to be together. And yeah, maybe I wouldn't have been so quick to say yes if you'd asked two months ago, but I've had a lot of time to think about this, and this is what I want, no matter what."

"Maybe getting shot wasn't…"

"Don't you dare even finish that sentence," Abby interrupted. "Let's make one thing clear, okay? I love you, but if you ever, ever put through that again, I swear to God, I will kill you. Got it?"

Brody nodded. "Got it," he agreed, squeezing her hand gently as he watched her face, knowing there was something else she was wanting to say. "Hey Abs?"

"Yeah?"

"I had the strangest dream," he said.

"Oh?"

"I don't know, maybe it was whatever meds they were giving me," Brody hesitated for a moment. "You promise not to freak out or read too much into it?" he asked.

"Okay…"

"It's kind of fuzzy, there wasn't really anything specific I could see," he said. "But I could hear you talking, and that part was so clear…you were talking about having a baby. I heard you say you were pregnant."

Abby smiled softly and leaned a little closer. "What if I told you that you weren't dreaming?" she asked.

"Really?" Brody asked, a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"Really," Abby said. "I'm only about eight weeks, I think…it's still early, but yeah…we're going to have a baby."

Brody took a breath, slipping his hand out of Abby's and moving it to rest it on her still-flat stomach. "Our baby," he said almost reverently.

Smiling, Abby put her hand over his and looked down. "Our baby," she repeated. "Our family."


End file.
